Project developers and housing corporations: a happy marriage?

December 20, 2013

The complexity of city-centre housing developments necessitates good cooperation between housing corporations and developers. These parties find themselves in (financial) difficulty due to the crisis. Risk spreading through cooperation is no longer that easy. The financial drive that served as the basis for entering into a partnership is fading into the background. The crisis has altered the environment in which companies and developers were accustomed to working together. This study proposes new perspectives for cooperation between housing corporations and developers.

In his study, Kasper Hesp has first subjected the phenomenon of cooperation to theoretical research and defined a number of pillars for cooperation: the type of cooperation, competencies, motivation and means of exchange. Kasper then uses four practical examples of city-centre area development to illustrate how cooperation between the housing corporation and the investor changes in relation to the four pillars. The practical examples take place during the crisis, thereby providing an insight into the effect of economic and political trends on society during this period.

The study shows that the strategy change of housing corporations and developers during the crisis is crucial for the type of cooperation and adjustments to the project program. In two cases, the changing market conditions indirectly led to the termination of the partnership. In order to respond effectively to the current and future demand for homes, Kasper Hesp proposes to change the reactive traditional cooperation model into a new proactive model. Both the corporation and the developer will acquire a new role in the partnership. The corporation will act as an investor (operational phase), but also contribute ideas during the development process (initiative phase) and apply its skills on a social level. The promoter will bear less risk and operate more on the basis of its own strengths.